The U.S. Navy utilizes a variety of amphibious watercraft, some of which include exhaust thruster assemblies for directing exhaust gases into the ambient air to provide the watercraft's propulsion and steering forces. In general, each thruster assembly includes an exhaust manifold and an exhaust nozzle. The exhaust manifold defines an exhaust exit port through which exhaust products (i.e., air generated by the watercraft's lift fans, water spray, small debris, etc.) exit the manifold. The exhaust nozzle defines an exhaust entry port that aligns with the manifold's exhaust exit port. Exhaust products exiting the manifold enter the nozzle through its exhaust entry port. The nozzle is rotatingly coupled to the manifold at the interface between the manifold's exhaust exit port and the nozzle's exhaust entry port.
A bearing assembly is disposed between the manifold's exhaust exit port and the nozzle's exhaust entry port to support. rotation of the nozzle relative to the manifold. The current bearing assembly is arrangement of ring-shaped ball bearing supports and seals located at the periphery of the manifold's exhaust exit port and the nozzle's exhaust entry port. The current bearing assembly has a short useful life and high failure rate for a variety of reasons to include galvanic mismatch of materials and the large bearing area necessitated by large diameter port-to-port interface (e.g., 55 inch diameter port-to-port interface on the Navy's LCAC watercraft).